Study of glycemic profile of Cajanus cajan leaves in experimental rats

33-36Cajanus cajan K (Millsp) is commonly known as pigeon pea (or red gram). It is an important pulse crop of the tropical regions. The present study deals with the aqueous extract of Cajanus cajan leaves and evaluation of its glycemic profile in Streptozotocin induced type-2 diabetic rats. Single oral administration of graded doses of aqueous extract of leaves showed significant increase in fasting blood glucose levels (FBG) of normal rats by 14.3%. The mild diabetic and sub-diabetic animals had shown hyperglycemic effect from variable doses of extract. The maximum rise of 17.0, 71.3 and 50.8 % was observed in BGL from a dose of 1000 mg/kg body weight after administration in normal, sub and mild diabetic rats, respectively during glucose tolerance test (GTT). The study of leaves was taken into consideration on the basis of earlier reported hypoglycemic activity of Cajanus cajan seeds. However, the results observed were found just opposite and therefore it may be useful in controlling hypoglycemia, occasionally caused due to excess of insulin and other hypoglycemic drugs